A physician’s assistant is someone who relieves the doctors of routine chores so that these doctors can attend to more important and critical patients.
Although he is not a doctor, he does the work that doctors mostly do. He is also in charge of monitoring the condition of the patient every now and then, and reports to the doctor the results.
Specific Duties of a Physician’s Assistant
Basically, a physician’s assistant, as said earlier, does the routine chores of the doctor. He may take the patient’s medical histories, order and even interpret laboratory tests and make diagnoses as well. The assistant can also instruct the patients the right thing to do and even treat minor injuries or diseases. Like doctors, he can also prescribe the patient’s medicine. He can do all these but must be in the supervision of the doctor. All his decisions should be reported to the doctor first.
Qualifications and Skills
A candidate for this position should have at least two years of college and must have experience in healthcare. Many applicants for the position already possess a bachelor’s or even a master’s degree related to healthcare. Many hospitals, community colleges, medical schools and other teaching hospitals and clinics give training programs for a period of two years to help candidates for the position.